Introducing sentence stress

Individual words have a stress pattern, that is a pattern of strong and weak syllables. Sentences also have a stress pattern, and this is sentences stress. Compare (B9):

Ooo word sentence	oOo word sentence	ooO word sentence
photograph Answer me!   Canada Doesn’t he?   Cabbages Copy it!	September Excuse me!   tomorrow I think so.   remember He told her.	afternoon Do you smoke?   Japanese One of these?   Portuguese He’s arrived.

 

Ex 11. Write these sentences in the correct column. Listen, check and repeat. (B13)

OooO	oOoO	OoO	OoOo
	The bus was late.

 

There’s normally a space between stressed syllables in a sentence. Unstressed syllables can be put into that space. The space stays more or less the same length, this is called the rhythm. Listen (B11):

OOO Don’t tell Mike.

OoOoOo Go and speak to Ma ry.

OooOooOoo Hurr y and give it to Jon athan.

 

In some situations, for example, emergencies, all of the words in a sentence are important, so we stress all of them.

O Help! Quick!

OO Look out! Stand still!

OOO Don’t turn round! Don’t look now!

 

Ex 12. Match each sentence with a sentence from the box with the same rhythm. Listen, check and repeat. (B57)

 

 

EXAMPLE OoO Don’t be late! ____ Go away! ___

1. Oo Silence! ____________

2. OOO Don’t look down! ______________

3. O Wait! _______________

4. OO Get back! _____________

5. OOo Keep quiet! ____________

 

Ex 13. Listen and complete these chants. Practise saying them (B58)

 

1. Don’t sleep! ________ awake! 3. Say please! Don’t ______ rude!

Get dressed! Don’t _______ late! Sit _________! Eat your food!

 

1. __________ still! Stay there!

Don’t move! _________ care!

 

There are some kinds of words which are not normally stressed. Listen to these examples. (B59)

O o O

What’s your name? pronouns (your)

Tom was right. the verb be (was)

Dogs can swim. auxiliary verbs (can)

Close the door! articles (the)

Wait and see. conjunctions (and)

Go to bed. prepositions (to)

 

Ex 14. Put one of the unstressed words from the box in the middle of each phrase or sentence below. Then say the phrases or sentences with this stress pattern: OoO.

 

 

1. Bring ________ here!

2. Mel’s ________ nurse.

3. Whales _______ big.

4. Jane _________ drive.

5. Lots _________ eggs.

6. Pass _________ fail?

7. Have _________ bread.

8. Where’s _______ bike?

 

Ex 15. Listen to the sentences. How many unstressed words are there between the stressed ones in each sentence? Write 0,1,2 or 3. (B61)

EXAMPLE Drink … milk (3).

1. Eat … cheese. ()

2. That … man. ()

3. What … name? ()

4. What … for? ()

5. Go … shops. ()

6. Go … home. ()

7. Turn … right. ()